video

Moving images presented as a sequence of static
images (called "frames") representing snapshots of the scene,
taken at regularly spaced time intervals, e.g. 50 frames per
second. Apart from the frame rate, other important properties
of a video are the resolution and colour depth of the
individual images.

Digital video data is typically stored and transmitted in a
format like MPEG or H.264 that includes synchoronised
sound.

Unlike broadcast television, digital video on a computer or
network uses compression. Compression is even more
important for video that for static images due to the large
amount of data involved in even a short video. Furthermore,
compression allows video to be transmitted via a channel whose
bandwidth is less than the raw data rate implied by the
resolution and frame rate. This allows the recipient to start
displaying the video before the transmission is complete, a
process known as streaming.

Compression can be relatively slow but decompression is done
in real-time with the picture quality and frame rate
varying with the processing power available and the size and
scaling of the picture.